Wow, can you believe we are on the last day of 2020?
What a difference a year makes. Last year on New Years Eve Janel and I were standing downtown Dallas with our daughter and son-in-law ringing in the New Year. This week is much different for us and yet we are finding joy and strength in the Lord.
In the opening lines of his novel, A tale of two cities, Charles Dickens gives us a description that sounds appropriate for 2020.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Daniel Henderson has said;
The worst of times are often the best of times, it just doesn’t feel like it at the time.
The world will undoubtedly ring out 2020 with great excitement. It’s conclusion brings joy as we are all anxious to put this “dreaded year” behind us. In 2020 this fallen world has done what God promised all the way back in the beginning it would do for us, “for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17)
When we bite into the “fruit” of this world to find our joy, pleasure, fulfillment and hope we always come away with a bitter taste in or mouth. 2020 has proven that this world can never satisfy the deepest longest of the human heart. It has also proven that we live in a broken sinful place that is “groaning” for redemption from its creator.
But God!
And yet, we can look back and know that God has been guiding us every step of the way. He has not forgotten or failed us one time this year. The disappointments of this world have only caused us to find Him more satisfying, more fulfilling and more than ever the reason that we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)
Anything that causes us to look up to Him is a gift from His generous hand.
In this way 2020 has been a blessing. And to think God loves us so much that He uses the worst thing we can imagine to cause us to experience His goodness more personally.
In Psalm 81 Asaph is describing a similar scenario. It was a Psalm that was to be sung during a celebration of the people of God. In it the writer reminds us of the goodness of God to His people in all times.
In some ways it is a comparison between the god (things) of this world and the God who had walked with them.
In verses 6-7 God reminds them of His goodness in their most difficult days.
“I removed his shoulder from the burden;
His hands were freed from the baskets.
You called in trouble, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
Now hundreds of years later God is referring to the miracles He had performed for them in the past.
- When they were enslaved in Egypt – “shoulders from the burdens, you called in trouble and I delivered you”
- When God gave them the law at Mt. Sinai – “I answered you in the secret place of thunder”
- When they were thirsty and God miraculously provided water – “I tested you at the waters of Meribah”
In verses 8-10 God compares himself with false gods and reminds them of the lesson that we have learned in 2020, only He saves and satisfies us.
v.10 I am the LORD your God,
Who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
A reminder to them and us that only God can do for us what we really need.
Whatever removes our dependency upon this world, is a gift to us.
They did not respond to verse 10. By His grace, we have. In 2020 we have become more prayerful, more focused on His word and more united to see “His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”.
And for this 2020 has been a blessing.
We all will look back on this past year with a tinge of disdain. 2020 gave us a lot of grief. I too want the virus to go away, our country to be whole and my wife to be well. In many ways it does bear the contrast of Charles Dickens description above. And yet, while the world looks for the New Year to bring them something better we look to God who promises to “fill” every mouth that opens wide to Him.
On to 2021!
BE ENCOURAGED, WE’RE CHRISTIANS!
I love you all!
PT
Troy Keaton's Blog 